Kaegomé's Caravan
by Scott-The Swordsman
Summary: A beautiful Selkian farmer, a womanizing Calvatian rancher, a violent Calvatian blacksmith, and a discriminated alchemist Yuke set off in their crystal caravan to find the trees of myrrh.
1. Prologue

**Prologue**

**Xeuber village was a peaceful place that had been lucky enough to be saved from the "miasma", a village that was located at the edge of a continent. It happened suddenly, that the strange substance known as miasma plagued the air of the world. Acting as a sort of radiation, it drained those caught within it of their life force, and killed them. However, certain crystals then appeared which cancelled the effects of the miasma within a certain radius. The bigger the crystal, the larger the radius, thus why villages, towns and cities were built around the largest of the crystals and everyone was able to live safely, though they depended on the crystals for survival.**

**Unfortunately, the crystals gradually lost this power. Every year, they had to be purified and regenerated by a substance called "myrrh." This myrrh could only be collected from trees called "myrrh trees." These trees were very rare, and only produced a single drop of myrrh every two years. This made it hard for the beings that lived within the world to survive unless a balanced was reached. This lead to the creation of "crystal caravans."**

**Crystal caravans consisted of selected travelers from every village or town in the world. They set out from their homes with a single caravan, two steeds, and whoever accompanied them to find the myrrh trees. This tradition would happen every year, for if it did not, the survival of the world would slowly become a problem. Every town would die off if ever there were a problem within the balance. For many years it worked, but to some, the gathering of myrrh became a competition for survival. People believed that gradually, the balance would shift to one side. But no one could be sure.**

**This is the story of one caravan, lead by an unlikely group**.


	2. Prior To

**Chapter 1: Prior To**

_The breeze made it's way through the village of Xeuber gently and silently. The feeling was soothing as it mutely blew across the grassy plains. The sightless force only being made known by the coolness it brought with it. The verdant planes swayed, its natural grasses dancing to the melody of nature. The oak trees vegetating the small village danced too, making their own sweet noises. The soft rustling of the grassy plane being all that could be heard for miles, a sound that would lie to rest on deaf ears. The sky was clear; the air was crisp and clean, and the smell of the salty ocean from the south was being blown back where it came from._

_The village itself, much like the plane surrounding it, was lively. The village people went about their daily chores farming, ranching, fishing, or just cleaning. It was mid-day, afternoon if you will, and the children were taking a break from their schoolings. Most went back to their feudal stone homes to their families to assist them in their work. Others, though, went to enjoy themselves on the calm day. One specifically made his way quickly, racing down the wavering dirt roads. He flew past the Tailor's home, through the town square, stopping there for a moment to look at the giant crystal in the center of the very village._

_Most of the village people went on, as if the crystal wasn't anything important. But it was very important, without a doubt the most crucial part of life in the village. The crystal that seemed to shine with an inner blue mana protected the village from the dangers of the outside world. It formed a protective barrier around the quiet place to keep it from harm, and to keep the inhabitants living. Though it had no name, everyone could look up to it, no matter whom they were. Every race on the planet was grateful for the protection it gave._

_The dangers from outside had a name, though. It was called "miasma." The miasma showed up many years before, though no one knows quite how it came to be. The invisible toxin acted as a sort of radiation, and whoever was caught out within the toxin, could surely be pronounced as dead. There was only one way to counter the effects of the miasma, and that was the crystals. The crystals appeared as the miasma did, and immediately became places of life. But they, too, had their flaws. The crystals were not absolute; they needed assistance from the beings on the planet._

_The earliest of teachings said, that the crystals were dying. They did not have infinite power; there were, in fact, limits. A substance called "myrrh" could control this limit. Myrrh was a very rare substance, which purified and replenished the crystals when applied. But it could only be obtained from a "myrrh tree," which was also a very rare sight. They could only be found in the most treacherous of places for some inexplicable reason. This caused difficulty for the beings of the planet, and the added fact that the myrrh trees only produced myrrh drops every other year did naught to help the situation either._

_Thus, the oldest legend was formed, the crystal caravans. These caravans were sent from each town to gather myrrh for their respective crystals. Volunteers ran the caravans, each usually being fit enough in one way or another to combat the monsters that lived within the miasma. These "adventurers" could be of any race, and are meant to be strong and willing. They would set off every year to find the myrrh until they resigned or until death. Ultimately, it was up to them to keep their village living._

The young boy was lost in thought, knowing the importance of the crystal caravans. He wanted to take the responsibility of one of those caravans, he wanted to join one and travel out to the myrrh trees. He would ask the ones who went to seek out the trees question after question, about the places they saw, and about the crystal chalice. Though the crystal chalice was an easily understood thing, he always wanted to observe it. He thought it looked pretty, it being a smaller version of the crystal he was gazing upon right then. It was also a container for the drops of myrrh. He found it a truly exciting subject... probably the only one he'd pay attention to.

_The boy shook his head. He forgot that he was supposed to go visit his best friend down at the farm. He turned and dashed down around the blacksmith's house, taking a sharp right turn into the farmyard. Though it was a farm, it wasn't overly impressive, it was just something to keep the village going. A few vegetables grew in a small garden-like area, and then there was a house. They had no animals; the young boy never could recall a time that his friend's family ever asked to by an animal. On the doorstep was the boy's friend, who looked to be frustrated. The boy approached her then and looked down upon the young Selkie's sitting form._

_"Kazuo!" She said with glee, jumping up and taking his hands into her own. "You're here!"_

_"Yeah, I'm sorry I was late, Kaegomé." The young Calvat responded with a soft smile._

_"Well where were you?" Kaegomé asked, suddenly seeming frustrated._

_"I... I don't know." Kazuo responded nervously._

_"Humph! You don't know?" She said, letting go of his hands and crossing her arms, tapping her foot on the step. "You were probably daydreaming again!"_

_"Well..." Kazuo said sheepishly, running his fingers through his well-kept chestnut coloured hair. "It was just the crystal..."_

_"You were thinking about the caravan again." Kaegomé butt in._

_"Yeah..."_

_The young Selkie pushed past her Calvat friend and proceeded to walk off of the farmyard. Kazuo hesitated a moment before taking off after her. He quickly caught up to her, and they just continued to walk, not saying a word to one another. Kazuo knew that his friend was prone to mood-swings, and could go from chipper to cross in a matter of moments. But he also knew, similarly, that she could go back quite quickly. He grinned and gave Kaegomé a hard pat on the shoulder before running forwards. He laughed, knowing exactly what he had in mind._

_"Ha! You can't catch me!" He called out back to her, running towards their favorite place._

_"Ugh! You!" Kaegomé called back to him. "We'll see!"_

_The Calvat boy didn't need to look back for his friend any longer. He knew for certain that he was being pursued in their little game of tag. He ran quickly around the farmyard before going next door to the fisherman's home. He liked that spot because it was located right on the coast of the village, and it had a beautiful view of the water. Kazuo and Kaegomé always went there, it was their special place. The place always set Kaegomé into a good mood again, whether it went quickly or slowly, whatever mood she was in would change to chipper, it never failed. He ran to the coast and stopped then, just standing and waiting for his friend. He didn't even have enough time to turn around though, as he was tackled to the ground._

_"Ha! Got'chya!" Kaegomé proclaimed, taking her friend's arm and twisting it behind his back._

_"Hey! Ouch!" Kazuo shouted, squirming a bit. "Let go! Let me go!"_

_"Say 'Kaegomé, you are the greatest' then." She teased, putting more pressure on the appendage she had. "Say it!"_

_"Ah! Kaegomé! Let me go!" The Calvat exclaimed, just feeling more pain coarse through his arm. "You're the greatest!"_

_"And?" The Selkie continued to tease. "What else?"_

_"You didn't say...!" Kazuo was about to imply, but he felt more pressure, along with more pain applied to his arm. "You are...! You're the greatest friend in the whole world, almost!" _

_"Almost?" Kaegomé inquired._

_"I meant EVER!" Kazuo shouted out in pain._

_The Selkie giggled and let go of the Calvat's arm, getting off of his back. Kazuo sat up with a small groan, rubbing his arm. It worked quickly this time, he thought, she was already back to her normal self. Kaegomé sat down beside him and smiled, gazing out to the sea. It definitely worked, and it was then time for quiet chitchat. These conversations normally went on for the whole hour they had away from their schoolings, and were almost always about adventuring or the crystal caravan. Other time spend there was used playing games, like make-belief things. They always enjoyed pretending they were brave heroes, just like how they saw the myrrh tree seekers._

_They spoke for a quick few minutes before deciding to play one of these games. Kazuo said that they should imagine that they were fighting a gigantic beast that was guarding a myrrh tree. Though Kaegomé said that they should be exploring a bran new place for once, instead of fighting monsters. Normally, Kazuo always won arguments like this, but on that day, he decided that it would be best to let her do, as she wanted. And so they explored, pretending that they were in a mysterious forest. They used a fairly big rock to symbolize the crystal chalice while they walked, wandering around the village at their free will. They wandered all the way to the merchant's home before spotting an odd creature._

_They stopped and looked at it. It was a Yuke; there was no mistaking it. It seemed to be looking in a tree, and jumping, reaching up towards the great oak's branches. It made slight grunting noises as it reached, as if trying to get something. It's metal helmet ha two horns protruding from it, and the brass it was made from gleamed in the sunlight. Kazuo and Kaegomé had both seen this young Yuke before, it attended the schoolings they did, though it rarely spoke a word. Kaegomé approached it then, walking over to it and looking up in the tree._

_"Um, Kaegomé." Kazuo said. "Our game, remember?"_

_"What are you looking for, Senken?" Kaegomé said, looking at the Yuke._

_Senken only responded by pointing up into the tree. He didn't say a word, but when Kaegomé peered into it's branches, she saw a book. The Yuke must have accidentally left it up there somehow. Kaegomé smiled and said that she would help get the book own if the Senken would give her a boost. Senken nodded in agreement and kneeled down, letting Kaegomé stand up on his shoulders. Taking a good hold of her ankles, Senken stood up slowly. Since he was taller than both Kaegomé and Kazuo, the added height easily reached the branch. The Selkie reached up and took hold of the book._

_"Okay I've got it!" Kaegomé said. "Can I come down now?"_

_"Kaegomé, I really don't like this guy." Kazuo said quietly. "Hurry up, will ya?"_

_As Senken went to put Kaegomé down, his knees shook. Being a Yuke, he wasn't very strong; he was more into the intelligence. He fell then, his legs giving way as he fell onto his knees. Kaegomé gave a slight shriek as she fell, her ankles slipping from the feathered fingers of the Yuke, her footing lost as she slipped forward a bit. She fell so that she was then sitting on the Yuke's shoulders, her legs around his slim neck. The added impact made Senken fall onto his face on the ground. Kaegomé was sitting on his upper back then as she looked down at Senken._

_Kazuo ran over to Kaegomé and helped her up, glaring down at the Yuke. Senken stood up by himself and brushed himself off, checking for kinks in his helmet. There was one right o the beak of it, and he traced along the small kink with a feathered digit. He sighed with a shrug and looked at Kaegomé. The Selkie blushed deeply and began to laugh, as did the Yuke. The Calvat though didn't seem amused. He glared at Senken, this cold stare making the Yuke stop his cheerful chuckle_

"_You dropped her! You stupid Yuke!" Kazuo shouted, startling both Senken and Kaegomé._

"_Kazuo!" Kaegomé said, raising her voice in disbelief. "Senken is NOT stupid!"_

"_That stupid Yuke dropped you! He could have at least been a bit more considerate, since you were helping it." Kazuo said in an angry tone._

"_But... It wasn't his fault." Kaegomé responded, looking at Senken. The Yuke ha his head down in shame, his shoulders drooped. "Look what you did!"_

"_He should feel sorry!" Kazuo shouted, snatching the book out of Kaegom's arms and shoving it to the Yuke, pushing it into his chest. "Take your darn book and go away!"_

_Senken sighed and took the book. He looked at Kaegomé and said something. But what he said was seemingly gibberish, being mostly random noises. Neither Kazuo nor Kaegomé understood what he was saying. He just walked away then, heading back to his home. He was one of the only Yukes in the entire village, his family making up the rest. Needless to say, he was used to hearing things such as what the obnoxious rancher's child had said. Kazuo and Kaegomé watched as Senken sulked all the way back home and inside the house._

"_What did you do that for?" Kaegomé exclaimed, turning to Kazuo. "Why were you so mean to Senken? He has enough problems, not being able to speak our language, and being one of the only Yukes in the village! You should be ashamed!"_

"_I just don't like him." Kazuo argued._

"_Ugh!" Kaegomé cried out in frustration. "Kazuo, I'm going back to school now."_

_Kazuo watched as his friend walked away, clearly angry with him. He sighed and shrugged, deciding to stop at home before going back to school. Kaegomé was indeed very angry, thinking that Kazuo was just a rude little brat. Thinking back, she couldn't figure out how she put up with him. She felt sorry for Senken; she must have been his only fiend. She walked back up to the small clearing past her home, past the tailor's shop, an sat down. Her schooling wouldn't begin for another twenty minutes, so she waited and thought._

_As Kazuo left his home to head for the clearing, he saw Senken. Senken looked at him quietly, as if deciding whether he should keep walking, or just wait until Kazuo moved up ahead. Kazuo kept walking then, turning a cold shoulder to the Yuke. Senken sighed and lagged along behind, trying to keep his distance. He felt badly for making the Calvat mad, even though he knew it was for a silly reason. His actions were accidental, and he figured the rancher must have known that. It was just something to do with Yukes, he guessed. Sighing again, he walked forward, reaching the clearing along with a bunch of other children. He sat down in the clearing, away from the other children, silently taking a book out of his cloak and beginning to read. Kazuo went to sit beside Kaegomé, but when he tried, she said the spot was taken._

"_Yeah right." Kazuo scoffed, just moving to sit somewhere else._

_They waited for a few moments before their teacher came. He walked over to Senken first, and looked down at him. Speaking a few words, he nodded and patted the Yuke on the shoulder before moving to address the rest of the children. At that moment they learned the economics of the town, how much food and animals were sold for. The class was relatively simple, being directed only towards teaching the children the basics of the world. The class went on until about three in the afternoon._

"_So to make blacksmiths make stuff for you, you need to give them the materials AND pay them?" Kazuo stated._

"_That's correct." His teacher responded._

"_How lame." Kazuo muttered._

"_Okay everyone, I suppose that is enough. I will quiz you all on the things we covered today, tomorrow." The teacher said. "Have a nice evening, and try not to forget what you've learned. That means you Kazuo."_

_The rest of the "class" laughed and giggled at this._

"_I wont ma'am." Kazuo groaned._


	3. We're The Essence Of Life

**Chapter 2: We're The Essence Of Life**

In following years, not much differed from childhood. Xeuber was still busy, the grass still swayed in the mute wind. Everything seemed peaceful, and children would be oblivious to the dangers of the outside. The crystal still gleamed with health in the sunlight, the previous myrrh seekers had been successful year in and year out. But they had resigned, saying they were becoming to old to continue such a tiring journey. The new crystal caravan needed to be operated by young blood, something that most youths of the village did not want to do.

At least, not but a select few wanted to run crystal caravans. In the town's ranch, Kazuo was lazing about in his room, resting after a day of hard work. After the schoolings went out, and he barely graduated, he was condemned to working on his family's ranch. Every day he would tend to the animals, feeding and grooming them. This only lasted until the afternoon, where he usually had about three hours until he would have to do it again. During that time, he would not know what to do. He was without friends, a loner.

He remembered quite well, back when he was a child. His only friend in the entire village slowly began to dislike him. It began with the Yuke, and his being mean to it. She shunned him for that, and started to ignore him completely. Of course, Kazuo blamed it all on Senken. In later years, Kazuo remembered quite well, he developed a liking for girls. And as his friend grew, she became very shapely, not over-developed, but past the normal limits of a young girl never the less. When the young rancher attempted to make moves on his ex-friend, she would only shut him down, time and time again. This led to a great disliking in Kazuo, as she would think that he cared about no one but himself. This was partially true.

Kazuo looked out for number one, as he would say it. His family was merely stepping-stones on his way to success. He would use them, be it for money, or food, or anything, he would suck up to them until he got it. Though Kazuo didn't see that the method worked two ways. Kazuo would work day in and day out, and get rewards for it, as his parents saw it. They knew exactly what Kazuo was doing, though they took comfort in knowing that he didn't know they knew. This self-concern led quickly to Kazuo's popularity's demise.

"Kazuo!" A young girl shouted, running into the room.

"Ugh, what?" Kazuo groaned, sitting up on his bed.

"Didn't you hear, brother?" The girl asked. "The crystal caravan is open again, just like you always hoped! You can go on the caravan now!"

"Really?" Kazuo asked, springing to his feet. "You're joking, Pauline, aren't you?"

"Not at all." Pauline said.

"Get out of the way!" Kazuo said as he dashed out of his room.

He ran out of his room and out of his house in a flash. The Elder's house is where he had to go. He could sign up as leader of a caravan! Then people would join him on his quest to recover myrrh drops from the trees. When he came back with them, the villagers would certainly change their tune, or so he thought. They'd actually idle him, instead of hate him. He rushed out past the merchant's house, through a path to the town square, past Senken's home. He gazed at Senken's home, and muttered some cursing before he went on past the giant crystal to the Elder's hut. Though he was surprised at whom he saw there.

Kaegomé and Senken were there, both standing out front with the Elder. Kaegomé was wearing a leather, fur-lined top that covered only her chest, a cloth muffler draped over her shoulders. Her midriff was bare, while she also wore a skirt of similar cloth as the muffler, with a slit up the left side, showing her leg. Most of her legs though, were covered in a kind of stockings, with a small pattern in them to make them more airy. Lastly she wore a pair of leather sandals upon her feet. Added to all that, she wore a smirk on her features, naturally masked by the long blue hair she had, long enough to reach her rear. Her ice blue eyes were half-lidded in confidence.

"Looks like you're late again." She said, looking at Kazuo.

"What are you talking about?" Kazuo asked.

"Too late to be the leader of the caravan." She answered. "I just signed up as one, and Senken agreed to be part of my team."

"What?" Kazuo asked in disbelief, looking at Senken.

Senken just nodded, not being able to communicate any other way. He was wearing the same brass horned helmet he had years ago, though it was larger. His form was covered to his knees in a padded blue cloak with a line of green down his chest, the short sleeve accenting the length of his feathered arms. It was decorated with well-placed buttons and a belt. His legs were garbed in long yellow and blue striped socks, wearing small elf-shoes on his feet. His neck ornament was made of soft leather, hard leather bat-wings protruding from the back, though they were maybe as small as real bat wings. There was no doubt that his small, spade-shaped tail was poking out the back.

"But... why not me! You could have told me!" Kazuo shouted, seeming hurt now. "You know how much I wanted to go on one of these!"

"That's true." Kaegomé said. "But look at you, you're a ragamuffin."

"Ragamuffin?" Kazuo repeated. "What kind of a word is that?"

"It means you look poor, rancher." Kaegomé answered.

It was true that he looked anything but rich. Though Kazuo didn't see himself as poor either. He wore a long-sleeved wool turtleneck sweater, the sleeves being brown, the mid-section being white. Though it was hard to see his chest, as he wore a leather chest plate over that, and a leather carrying pack around his waist. He wore comfortable wool shorts on his legs, and a pair of dark brown long socks, and lastly, a pair of leather boots on his feet. Looking down at himself, he ran his gloved fingers through his shaggy chestnut coloured hair, long enough to reach his neck. He took that time then to make sure his headband was on straight before he looked up at the Selkie, his hazel eyes reflecting offence.

"I'm not poor, and you know it!" Kazuo shouted. "Plus you'll need someone like me!"

Kaegomé looked at Senken, and the both shrugged before she looked back at Kazuo and asked, "How?"

"Um..." Kazuo said, looking kind of dumbstruck at the question. "Well... you'll need me for what I can provide! Face it Kaegomé, you know how much food my family gets a year, more than we know what to do with. I can get it and take it with us on the trip... Plus I'm pretty strong, and there's supposed to be a lot of monsters out there..."

"Hmm..." Kaegomé said aloud. "Could it be that Kazuo is thinking of us for a change?"

"Plus, every team has someone who's good looking. That'll be me." Kazuo said with a smirk. "Well, for the male good looker, you can be the female beauty Kaegomé."

"Kazuo, you're hopeless!"

Just then, another young Clavat walked over to them and stopped, looking to each one of them. He was shorter than most Clavats, being maybe three inches shorter than Kazuo. He wore a white cap on his head, the brown rim folded up partially at the front. It covered his black hair, though leaving his young face and brown eyes in plain view. Aside from that, he wore an outfit much like Kazuo's, though the shirt was white, with a brown chest, and brown cuffs around the sleeves and shoulder-line. He wore almost the exact same leather chest plate, and the same carrying pack around his waist. Also, as a custom to Clavat travelers, he wore a pair of striped traveler's shorts, the stripes being of a lighter and darker shade of brown. The long socks he wore were cow-spotted, and again, he wore light leather boots on his feet.

He looked at them all silently before he spoke up, his tone also being quite quiet. He said, "My name is Snow."

"Snow?" Kazuo repeated, crossing his arms over his chest. "Weird name."

"Kazuo! There you go again!" Kaegomé shouted at him, making him turn his head away.

"Please excuse... that person." Kaegomé said, looking at Snow. "Sometimes he opens his mouth without thinking."

Senken then said something, though it being in his own language, nobody could understand a word.

"What would you like?" Kaegomé asked.

"I have recently returned to the village." Snow said. "I left my father in a village that lays just beyond the nearby miasma stream."

"Miasma stream?" Kaegomé repeated. "What's that?"

"You dummy." Kazuo spoke up. "Even I know what a miasma stream is. It's a patch of miasma that flows like a stream, naturally. Though the difference between the streams and just normal miasma is that the stream's miasma is made up of a certain element. Of course, only people with crystal chalices can get through, but the chalice needs to be the same element as the miasma in order to cancel out the effect."

"Oh, so you do know something." Kaegomé sneered.

"You'd be surprised." Kazuo said with a confident smirk.

"For some reason..." Kaegomé said. "... I don't doubt that."

"Kazuo is right." Snow said. "That's the whole concept."

"But that means you have a chalice." Kazuo said. "Where is it?"

"I gave it to a friend in the village for safe keeping." Snow responded. "But what I wanted to ask is, are you the new caravanners?"

"Actually, yes." Kaegomé said. "I'm the leader of the new caravan."

"Yeah, because she doesn't tell other people about the openings." Kazuo muttered.

"May I join your caravan?" Snow asked.

Kaegomé and Senken looked at one another and shrugged, beginning to think about this.

"Hey wait! What about me?" Kazuo piped up.

Senken nodded to Kaegomé, pointing to both of them.

"Wait, are you sure, Senken?" Kaegomé asked.

Senken nodded again.

"Well, alright, you can both come." Kaegomé said.

"Yeah sweet!" Kazuo said, extending his hand to Snow. "Gimmie a five buddy!"

"Um..." Snow looked at Kazuo's hand for a moment before shedding a small smile and rising his arm, slapping his palm against Kazuo's. "Like that?"

"Yeah you got it!" Kazuo said with a laugh.

* * *

_Year 1_

_Today, I returned home from Marr's Pass. I met the caravanners of Xeuber, and requested I join them on their search for the trees of myrrh. After some thought, they let me join. I am grateful._

_The team consists of a Selkie girl, who seems to be kind hearted. Then there is a Yuke, who doesn't appear to speak English. What language he speaks is completely beyond me. Then there's a Clavat, like me. He is very obnoxious, and he seems to take very little seriously. But despite all that, he seems amusing._

_- Snow_

* * *

With that, they all visited their families, save Snow, for his family was in a small village called Marr's Pass. They all received a farewell and things they would need on their journey. Kazuo was delighted to go, and happily was seen off by his family. Kaegomé showed some more hesitation, claiming she would miss every one of her family members, and asked that they wrote often. Senken was uneasy about leaving as well, though his parents said that they were very proud of him for deciding to leave, and they said they would write as often as they could. With a soft nod, he turned and left to meet up with his companions. 

Hurrying to meet up with them, the young Yuke ran as fast as his legs could carry him to the crystal in the middle of the town. He found his friends waiting there for him, though Kazuo looked annoyed. The Yuke put his feathered hands together and bowed an apology to them. Kaegomé and Snow seemed to be all right with it, though Kazuo said he better not do it another time. The Yuke sighed at this, wondering when Kazuo would ever let up on him.

"So, Snow, where is this friend of yours?" Kaegomé asked. "We need to leave soon."

"Yeah, hurry it up man." Kazuo said, rushing the young Clavat.

"It's right here." Snow responded quietly, moving around to one section of the crystal where there was a small hole.

With that, Snow crawled into the small hole. Kaegomé, Kazuo and Senken all looked confused, never having wanted to go in there before. Giving a shrug, they all crawled in single file into the hole. As they all crawled one by one into an open area under the ground, they were amazed. They were met with the warm glow of a fire in a fireplace at the far side of the round room. The home seemed like a large dome under the ground, and the caravanners could stand up inside of it, no problem. There was a winding staircase against the right wall, curling around the outside of the room up to a second floor. There was a small table in the center of the room, and a soft welcoming rug at their feet. Looking next to the fireplace, there was a small rocking chair, where a small creature sat.

"Visitors! Kupo!" The creature said with glee, hopping out of his rocking chair, and padding over to them to greet them. "Oh it's you again, kupo."

"Wow, it's a real Moogle, right here!" Kazuo said in disbelief.

The Moogle, as it was called, looked to be a combination of a bear and a cat. It stood not even two feet tall, with small paws for hands and feet. Its fur was a snow white, the orange-ish glow changing the tint of the easily masked colour. Its face was small, it's cheeks having more fur than the rest of its body, and it hung from its face cutely. Its eyes were very narrow, to the point where one would wonder how they saw anything, and its nose resembled that of a kitten's. Upon it's head was an antenna of sorts, holding an odd square-shaped object on the end, it slightly drooping behind the animal's head.

"Yes, I'm here to get my chalice back." Snow said, smiling at the small creature.

"Oh, oh! I'll get it, one second, kupo!" It said, turning and quickly padding over to the stairs.

Quickly making it's way up the stairs, rattling could be heard. The caravanners looked at one another before looking back up the stairs, awaiting the Moogle's return. It came down a short while later, carrying an orb within its arms. It barely made it down the stairs, the orb contained within a twisted support being as big as the Moogle was. It padded over to Snow quickly and reached up, handing the chalice to him. It was amazing to the rancher, the chalice looked very neat to him.

"Aw, he's so cute!" Kaegomé said, in a chipper attitude once again.

"And that chalice is so neat!" Kazuo said. "Let me see it!"

Snow turned around and handed the chalice to Kazuo. The rancher took it quickly and gazed at it in awe, as did Kaegomé and Senken. The chalice looked oddly like a perfume container, able to hold liquid and everything, with a small cap on the top. This was without a doubt a chalice made to hold myrrh drops, and to protect travelers from the miasma. They admired it for a few more moments before handing it back to Snow, which turned to the Moogle and bowed his head slightly.

"Thank you for holding onto it for me." He said.

"No problem, kupo!" The Moogle responded.

* * *

_Year 1_

_Today, I joined Kaegom's caravan. Darn her! I wanted to be the leader! Oh well, I doubt she'll get very far without me. I have to look after her, you know._

_That Yuke is coming with us, and so is another Clavat named Snow. Snow's pretty cool, he even came with his own chalice. The chalice looked so neat, even though i'd seen one many times before. It looked like a perfume bottle, though the crystal was so pretty. I gazed at it as long as I could before snow took it back_

_We should be leaving soon today... score!_

_- Kazuo_

* * *

With that, the caravanners crawled out of the Moogle's home and back into the fresh air. They all agreed then to go and find their new caravan, which should have been at the northern exit of town. They all hurried past the tailor's home, all the villagers they passed waving to them. They ran to the northern exit where they saw it, their own caravan. It wasn't too impressive, just your average reinforced wooden caravan, covered in a blue tarp and attached to two sturdy oxen. Each one of their families and the Elder were there to give them one last goodbye too. They smiled at this and nodded, saying their goodbyes. 

With that, they began to pack the caravan, finding it containing some things already. There were weapons in there for each one of them. Kazuo of course took his first, Snow second, examining them. After being scolded to help pack up, they groaned and got to work. Kazuo gathered all the extra food he had gotten from his house and put it inside the caravan while Snow put some refining materials in there. Senken went about organizing his scrolls while Kaegomé hauled in bundles of wheat with help from the Clavats. They finished well into the afternoon, and decided they best get going as soon as they could. Saying one final goodbye, they left then.

Senken hopped into the rider's seat of the caravan, and took hold of the reins of the oxen. Looking back to make sure everyone was in, he spoke a few unknown words, and gave the reins a light flop. Feeling this, the oxen moved forwards at a slow pace. They all then looked back, Kazuo, Kaegomé and Snow in the back of the tarp, waving to everyone as they left. Senken waved his feathered hand out the side to his own family, as he couldn't take his eyes off the path. As time passed, the village got further and further away, and Kaegomé already began to miss it, holding the chalice within her hands. It didn't take them long until they had to stop to rest. They all piled into the caravan then and started a few lamps within it to light it up at the side of the dirt path. They all set up small sleeping bags and pillows, just sitting in a circle, beginning to talk to one another.

"Well... if we're going to go out looking for these drops of myrrh... we should at least get to know one another." Kaegomé stated.

Senken nodded in agreement.

"I'll start." Kaegomé said with a smile. "My name is Kaegomé, and I am a Selkie. Umm... I've always wanted to go on these adventures, every since I was little. I always thought they would be so exciting, and I would be so free while doing it. It's not much fun on a farm anyways, you know. So yeah, I came on this trip for the exploration and the freedom. How about you, Snow?"

* * *

_Year 1_

_I told my fellow travelers about myself today. I hope they like me. Well, I know Senken is fine with me, but I don't know about snow. And it's just going to be so hard to get along with Kazuo!_

_I just hope everything goes well._

_- Kaegomé_

* * *

"Oh well..." Snow began. "My name is Snow. It's kind of a lame name, I know, but it is my own. I used to live in Xeuber village, but when my father's blacksmith business started to get slow, we got our own chalice and traveled over to a place called Marr's Pass during a summer a while ago. Up until now, I always helped out my father while he did his business, but now I'm on this adventure with all of you. I wanted to do this because it would give me a chance to learn to improve my blacksmithing and combat skills. What about you?" 

Senken pointed to himself in order to be sure he knew who went next. Snow nodded at this, but the Yuke couldn't saw a word.

"I'll speak for him." Kaegomé said. "His name is Senken, and he is a Yuke, one of the only Yukes in the whole village of Xeuber. His family runs the local alchemist shop in town, and they deal in lots of designs for clothes, weapons, armor, and different potions. I learned from his parents that he can't speak our language, he can only speak ancient Yukian."

"Ancient Yukian?" Snow repeated. "Wow, that must be a very complex language."

"It is." Kaegomé said, but then she looked at Senken. "But... why did you come on this trip?"

Senken rubbed the beak of his helmet in thought, tracing it right down the middle before he snapped his fingers. He began to speak in his language, and although no one could understand him, they hung on to his words. He opened the back of the caravan up slightly and pointed up to the night sky, right at a large cluster of stars. He then nodded.

"The stars..." Kaegomé said. "I'm not sure what you mean Senken, but the stars are beautiful. There's probably a lot we don't know about them."

* * *

_Year 1_

_Today, I told them all about me. Kazuo, the Clavat rancher, didn't seem to impressed. Why is he so mean to me?_

_I'm glad I am able to write in this language, though I don't understand how to speak it. I'd imagine that it's a hard language to speak with... but still. My parents can speak it just fine, though I can only comprehend it. What they didn't understand is why I am here._

_I want to learn. There are alot of ancient lores and crolls out there for me to read. Plus, my magic will come in handy. And Kaegomé was partially right. The stars are quite interesting._

_- Senken_

* * *

Senken nodded again, closing the tarp. He then pointed to Kazuo and shrugged. 

"Hey, what's that mean?" Kazuo snapped at him.

"It means he wants to know about you." Kaegomé answered in a flat tone.

"Humph, like he should know. But fine." Kazuo responded. "My name is Kazuo, probably the greatest guy you'll ever meet. I live on a ranch back in Xeuber, where all the glorious food over there came from. We should have enough meat and milk to last us a long time. Though I don't really like meat."

"Neither do I." Snow said. "Maybe we'll pick up some fruit somewhere."

"I love meat, and fish." Kaegomé said.

Senken held his throat and let out a fake gag, showing he didn't like meat that much either. This made everyone laugh, even Kazuo.

"Okay, okay." He said. "Back on topic. I went on this adventure for two reasons. One reason was that I always wanted to. Exploring deep, dark dungeons and battling fierce monsters was what I was built for. Plus, it'll make me important."

"Because you have no friends." Kaegomé said.

"Hey shut up." Kazuo scoffed. "And my second reason is to... get chicks of course."

"What?" Kaegomé asked, sounded somewhat offended.

"Oh come on." Kazuo said, preparing to boast. "Who wouldn't want a strong, brave guy like me?"

"Me." Kaegomé answered flatly.

"You keep telling yourself that." Kazuo responded with a smirk.

"Ugh, you pig." Kaegomé muttered.

"Alright, let's calm down." Snow butted in.

After a few moments they all remained calm, just talking about all they could until things got silent. They couldn't sleep quite then; their excitement hadn't worn off. They went to eat, all getting a bottle of milk, and food of their liking. Kaegomé quickly took some meat from Kazuo's stash and began to cook it with a small flame inside a metal cooking bin. None of the others wanted such a thing, so to be nice, Kaegomé got things they would like. She gave Senken some round corn, and both Kazuo and Snow got one striped apple each. They all ate for a while before they began to get tired, and loosen up a bit.

"Hey Kaegomé." Kazuo said, looking at the Selkie.

"What?" Kaegomé responded.

"You think maybe you could sing a song?" Kazuo asked.

"A song?" Snow repeated. "Is she a good singer?"

"Oh yeah, you just have to hear it to believe it." Kazuo said with a grin. "She's the best singer in the entire village!"

"Well... I could." Kaegomé said with a soft blush.

Senken urged her on with a slight clap of his feathered hands.

"Go for it." Kazuo urged.

"Okay, fine. I'll go." Kaegomé said, taking a deep breath before starting.

* * *

Dreaming of the stars on high 

That speak to me in secret sighs 

Drifting on a breeze 

Only I can feel and hear 

- 

Could it be the sacred wind 

That's calling me to now begin 

To walk into the dark 

Carrying the light of tomorrow 

- 

Need to walk the wings on high 

Beyond the earth, beyond the sky 

Come on, don't hesitate 

Don't look back, we've got to go now 

- 

Don't fear 

You'll be safe from now on 

Morning sky watching over all 

- 

Deep inside so silently 

My heart will speak 

Deep inside of me 

Memories flickering and shimmering on 

Endlessly 

- 

Keeping close to the path 

Morning sky watching over all 

- 

Moving over endless mountains oh so high 

Walking to the light 

Your heart will 

See the path and you will find your way 

Just wait and see 

- 

Moving under endless skies oh so high 

Tomorrow we'll follow, when in doubt 

Your promises today 

Just wait and see.

* * *

**A/N: That's the opening theme for the game! **


	4. Monsters, Miasma and Myrrh Trees! Oh My!

**Chapter 3: Monsters, Miasma And Myrrh Trees, Oh My!**

"Get up, lazy bones!" Kaegomé shouted, nudging at Kazuo with her foot.

It was no use; the rancher just catnapped on, snoring peacefully. With a sigh, Kaegomé turned and hopped out of the caravan to see the rest of her companions. They had slept somewhat uncomfortably the night before, all except Kazuo of course. As far back as Kaegomé could recall you could always count on the Clavat rancher to get enough sleep. Heck, if you let him, he'd even sleep standing up! He'd done it many times during schoolings, and many times when he was home alone. Sometimes he would even do it when they were talking, which made her feel boring sometimes.

It was another beautiful spring day, though on that day, the wind was silent. It left the prairies to b bathed in the warm glow of the sunlight. The long grass stood straight up, absorbing this life-giving glow with all its might. Insects chipped within the grass, calling out to one another, and just making noises to make sure they were heard. The sky was littered with white, fluffy patches of cloud. The oak trees were still, standing tall and proud in all their glory. It seemed on that day; the mightiest of axes could not strike one down.

"Man..." Kaegomé whined with a yawn. "I barely got any sleep."

"... It seems that the caravan is very uncomfortable." Snow said quietly, just sitting at the very edge of the barrier surrounding their caravan from the miasma, just looking out into the distance.

Senken was sitting at the rider's seat on the caravan, his feathered digits snaked under his helmet to rub his weary eyes.

"Seems you guys had the same problem." Kaegomé said with a giggle.

"I wish we could say the same for Kazuo." Snow said.

Senken snapped his fingers then, as if he had an idea. He waved an arm, getting the Selkie and the Clavat to look over. With the sun gleaming from his helmet, he called them over. Following his request, they walked over to him, and he helped both of them up into the rider's seat. Gesturing for them to hold onto something, they did, grasping onto something tightly. With that, he cracked the reins and sent the oxen running, towing the caravan behind them.

As they raced along the dirt road, the caravan rattled and shook behind them. They heard Kazuo let out a cry of fright as he was startled awake. They would have laughed, if Snow and Kaegomé weren't screaming along with him. Senken on the other hand remained focused and quiet, just cracking the reins to make the oxen run. The caravan would also sometimes lift off the ground onto two wheels when they turned; making audible crashes sound from within the tarp.

After rushing past a different caravan, probably Marr's Pass's, Senken jerked back on the reins. The oxen roughly dug their hooves into the dirt, quickly sliding to a stop. The caravan made one last jerk forward, another few sounds coming within it until everything remained silent. The grass made no noise; the oaks in the thick forest were still. Everything was in muted harmony. This silence was broken by a soft cough from Snow.

Senken let go of the reins and looked to the Selkie and the Clavat. Both of them had frightened looks on their faces, neither of them could move. He noticed that both of them were holding onto the wooden beam in front of them tightly, as if they would die if they let go... even though the caravan was at a complete halt. Senken nodded to them, brushing his digits across their hands. With that, they released their firm grips and slowly got down out of the rider's seat, as if their joints had been petrified.

"Whoa..." Kaegomé said, blinking her eyes once, bearing shrunken pupils. "Wh-What just happened?"

"I think... I don't know." Snow responded, looking around shakily for his cap.

Going around to the back, Kaegomé opened the tarp of the caravan. With that, the form of the lazy Clavat rancher fell out from the _safety_ of the caravan and onto the dirt ground. Some supplies fell down on top of him, starting with the supplies for refining. The chunks of bronze and alloy fell onto the Clavat's back, making him since, though he was quiet as well. When he lifted his head to speak, food fell onto him second, striped apples showering his head and bouncing off onto the ground. Lastly, a wet, smelly fish landed right on his eyes.

"Kazuo? Are you alright?" Kaegomé asked, still a bit shaken as well.

"I..." Kazuo said weakly. "I... could see up your skirt..."

The Selkie was startled, quickly becoming furious as she took hold of the hem of her skirt and tugged it down to cover herself more. Kazuo gave a weak laugh as he pulled the fish off his face. Blushing furiously, the well-bodied Selkie let out a cry of frustration and kicked the rancher right in the nose, storming away. Snow and Senken were both baffled at Kaegomé's sudden furious appearance. They looked at one another and shrugged before Snow, walking to the caravan, found his cap.

"What's wrong?" He called out; hopping into the caravan and grabbing his cap, putting it neatly back on his head.

"Oh Kazuo is just fine!" Kaegomé responded in a flat, harsh tone.

"Who did this?" Kazuo shouted as he appeared from behind the caravan, having a small band-aid over his nose.

Senken folded his hands behind his back and looked away.

"You!" Kazuo exclaimed, storming over to the Yuke. "You were driving the caravan yesterday! You were today, weren't you? You stupid... Ugh! What's the big deal? Don't you have any respect for anyone?"

"Well maybe if you respected other people a bit more..." Kaegomé said, her back to Kazuo. "... Then you'd get some too!"

Senken then pat Kazuo on the shoulder and walked away.

"Why do you have to take his side all the time?" Kazuo mumbled.

After that, the caravanners went along with their business. They all helped reorganize everything within the caravan and set everything back the way it was. Making sure the crystal chalice was all right, they then continued on their way. Senken rode in the rider's seat, being the only one who seemed to do that. He made sure the oxen were nice and calm while they walked. Kaegomé and Snow walked along beside the oxen, though Kazuo was in the caravan, searching for something. After a few moments, Snow wondered what he was going for.

"What is he doing?" Snow said, looking over the oxen at Kaegomé.

"I don't know." Kaegomé responded. "Probably being an idiot."

"Hm, hey Kazuo!" Snow shouted, probably the loudest he had ever spoken.

"What?" Kazuo called back.

"What are you doing in there?" Snow asked.

"Looking for my... oh here!" Kazuo exclaimed as he soon came hopping out of the caravan and running to catch up to the others. He was holding a piece of paper. He unrolled it and looked at it, it appeared to be a map. "Seems we should start by going to the Belle River Path."

"The Bell River Path?" Kaegomé asked, her eyes suddenly lighting up. "Oh, I've never been there before!"

"Of course not, dummy." Kazuo said, looking at her. "You've never left the village before. I don't think any of us have been there. How about you, Snow?"

"... I haven't." Snow responded quietly, shaking his head.

"Exactly. So this is a new place, said to be full of monsters, and have a myrrh tree within it." Kazuo said.

"Oh, so we need to stop there?" Kaegomé asked.

"Yes." Snow said, answering the question. "Just so long as it still has it's myrrh drop, and no one beat us there."

So slowly, they walked north. The plains and they sky were the only thing that greeted their eyes for hours. But after some walking, they saw a clearing within a group of oak trees. Listening for a moment, Kaegomé could hear the sound of rushing water. They had gotten close, to the Belle River Path. The young Selkie smiled to herself, finally able to see new places for once. The Clavats, too, were excited. They were going to be able to test out their new weapons.

Walking up to the very entrance, they stopped the caravan. The four caravanners immediately began to set up, and prepare themselves for the adventure. Each of them took their respective weapons and such, also grabbing supplies. They each grabbed some meat, though most didn't like it. It was the only thing they had an abundance of. They then took the crystal chalice and hopped out of the caravan and set out to the Belle River Path. Just stepping in was a new experience to all of them. Kaegomé especially was astounded, letting out an audible gasp as she looked around.

The path was beautiful, regardless of its state. To the left was a path, parted by a nice grass hill. The rest of the path was lined thickly with trees, and within them, some insects were making their chirping noises. Looking to her left, she saw a draw bridge, though there didn't seem to be a way to lower it along the rushing waters of the river. The water too looked clear, despite the miasma in the area. And the sky still looked clear and peaceful. It was a wonder to the farmer how any sort of monster could inhabit such a place.

"Wow, this place is beautiful." Kaegomé finally said. "I've never seen any place like it."

"Yeah." Kazuo said, handing the chalice roughly to Senken, making him stumble a bit. "But then again, we have to be careful."

"We'll need to develop a strategy." Snow said. "We need to know our strong points."

"Well, that's easy." Kaegomé said with a smile, turning back to her chipper mood. "I'm a Selkie, so by nature I am quick and agile. Plus I'm no weakling. Senken is a Yuke, and he's always reading old books and things, so he's probably great with magic. You two, Kazuo and Snow, are probably strong, or tough."

"Hm, well, I'm definitely strong." Kazuo said. "There's no doubt about it."

"... I've been known to take a punch or five." Snow said with a smirk.

"There we go." Kaegomé announced. "So what should happen is that Kazuo and Snow should be our full force fighters. I can be backup, using items, or fight when people need me to. Senken can stay back and use magic if he wants to, but if he has no spells, he could fight too."

"Sounds good to me." Kazuo and Snow said at the same time.

"What about you Senken?" Kaegomé asked.

Senken nodded in approval and held up the chalice, signaling that he would hold onto it as well.

With that, they began. Of course, it didn't take them long to find a fight or two. They decided to go up the right path, since the drawbridge was up. A sign said that it was the roundabout route. Moving up that way, they were surprised to see a goblin. They'd never seen anything so warty and ugly in all their lives. It was wearing a small battle helm and some armor, carrying a large sword. Its appearance was generally offsetting, so they wasted little time and immediately attacked it. Of course, it had a hostile nature, meaning it had no problem attacking them back.

Kazuo and Snow rushed right in. They wasted little time, attacking it at the same time, slicing an X pattern in its stomach. When that was done, Kaegomé used her dual shooter (a weapon that looks a lot like a tennis racket) and smacked it over the face. The goblin's face jerked to the side, but it didn't die. It only reacted by swinging it's sword, and hitting Kaegomé back.

"Hey, don't hit a girl!" Kazuo shouted as he slashed it one last time, slaying it. "Even I know that's not dignified."

A small glowing orb was dropped by the Goblin. The four walked over to it and looked at it curiously. It has an odd blue-ish glow to it. Snow went to reach for it, and it reacted to his hand, little sparks of lightening appearing inside of its blue depths. He quickly took his hand away, not knowing what the orb was. Senken though put down the chalice and picked the orb up within his hand. Everyone else looked to him as he looked at it. Holding it up to the sky, he made a small shock of lightening appear in a place close by. The rest of the group was surprised.

"What did he just do?" Kazuo asked.

"It... must be some sort of magical orb. This blue orb, it's enchanted with lightening." Snow said. "I guess it enables its user to cast spells of that element."

"Cool..." Kazuo said. "... But he still sucks compared to me."

"Kazuo!" Kaegomé scolded.


	5. Hope Within Youth

**Chapter 4: Hope Within Youth**

After taking the orb, the group quickly moved on. The year wasn't going to wait for them after all; they needed to move. They moved on, slaying a few more goblins, but stopped at an odd sort of pedestal. The manner of the pedestal confused the caravanners; it looked so strange to them. It looked like some sort of birdbath, as there was bright blue water like liquids within a sort of bowl. They all questioned its meaning, and then looked over at Senken. The Yuke was by far the brightest, but even he was looking at it, rubbing the beak of his helmet while holding the chalice tucked under one of his arms.

"Senken?" Kaegomé spoke up. "What is this thing?"

"I don't know what it is." Kazuo said. "But we can't stick around. Hurry up so we can keep going."

"Give him a second this may be important." Kaegomé said, keeping Kazuo in line.

After a few moments of thinking, the Yuke stepped forwards. Everyone watched as he stepped up to the pedestal and looked at it. He reached out and traced his feathered digit over an arch that seemed to be protruding from the back of the bowl. He then looked down at the chalice, which looked very similar. He then nodded and took the chalice, moving to set it on the pedestal. When he did. He let it sit in the water, and it reacted to the chalice by glowing. A bright light illuminated from within the chalice, and when it finally cleared, the small jewel on the top of it turned from white, to blue.

Everyone was confused to say the least. They weren't as wise as the Yuke, so Senken had to explain. But he knew he couldn't speak, he had to find some other way to communicate. Though he had no spare paper, or anything to write with. He began to get somewhat frustrated as he thought, running his digit along the beak of his helmet again. He then snapped his fingers and took the chalice, moving away towards the river. The other three were forced to follow him, as he held their only protection against the miasma. He then pointed back at the pedestal, moving his hand as if her was trying to tell them something.

"Umm... the pedestal?" Snow said, looking back at it.

Senken nodded and then pointed into the river. The rushing water made a blissful sound as it ran through nature.

"Water." Kaegomé said. "The pedestal, and water."

Then Senken pointed to the chalice.

"The pedestal, water, chalice." Kazuo said with his head tilted in confusion. "What are you trying to say, Yuke?"

Senken then looked to a blank spot in the grass and cast lightning. Some of the grass was singed, though there was no real damage. He then snapped his fingers and pointed over at the remains of the spell.

"Lightning?" Snow said. Senken shook his head.

"Um, grass?" Kazuo inquired. Senken shook his head again.

"Magic?" Kaegomé tried next. Deciphering what the Yuke had to say was surprisingly difficult. Senken nodded and gestured for her to go on with the point she'd achieved.

"Magic, umm..." Kazuo said out loud, thinking. "Enchantment?"

Senken nodded quickly then.

"Oh well let's see." Snow said, looking back and forth. "Pedestal, water, chalice, enchantment."

Senken nodded and then made a gesture; pointing his two index digits towards each other. He moved one behind the other and spun them around, switching their places.

"Switch? Move?" Kazuo asked aloud, seeming to have the hardest time figuring Senken out.

"Move the words around?" Kaegomé asked, Senken returning the inquiry with a nod.

They tried every combination they could think of, enchantment, water, pedestal, chalice, and so on and so forth. It took them only a few moments before one of them got the order. Kazuo said the order: Pedestal, enchantment, chalice, and water. Senken nodded quickly with a sigh at this, happy, maybe even overjoyed that he was finally understood. After that, it was only a matter of piecing the words together with what they saw. The Yuke could have sworn it was all too obvious by then, but then again, he had to keep in mind that his friends were not as smart as he. Oh if only he could speak!

"The pedestal enchants the chalice with water." Snow said silently, piecing it together.

Senken clapped his hands together enthusiastically.

"With the water property." Kazuo said. "In order to get through miasma streams."

Senken snapped his fingers and pointed to Kazuo with his thumb digit up as well. It was obvious, that gesture means something like "he's the man." It made a lot of sense now that the small riddle was found. They all sighed, taking a load off their strained brains. Communication with Senken was far too difficult, and everyone realized this. Kaegomé took it upon herself at that moment to tell Senken that she would attempt to teach him their language, with Snow's help. Senken was pleased to hear this, but that would have to start after they got out of the River Path.

Moving on, they were faced with an obstacle. There was a large wooden door blocking the pass up ahead. It stopped them completely from moving on. They had to kill more monsters, which they seemed to be everywhere. Not just goblins either, there were other things called Hedgehog Pies that the group had to look out for. Surely if one thought about a Hedgehog, they would get the idea as to what one looks like. Just think of it able to walk on two legs instead, and a lot meaner. They weren't a problem though; the group easily took them out with teamwork and a combination of attacks.

Though then there was the problem with the large wooden door. It was certainly large, too big to climb over. Going around wasn't any good either. Around that part, a current picked up in the river, and going around could risk falling into the water. They looked around for any means to open it. It appeared to the young Clavat blacksmith, that a sort of pulley operated the door, making it open and close. But there seemed to be no manual way to control it. This boggled the lot of them.

"Why can't this thing get any easier?" Kazuo asked. "What are we supposed to do?"

They all looked to Senken again. But this time, he just shrugged.

"Even YOU don't know?" Kazuo asked in disbelief. "Great, wonderful! We're going to be stopped by a DOOR!"

"Hold on." Snow said. "What's that?"

He pointed over to a small hint of marble over in the corner beside the door, near a mountain. Walking over to it, they blinked and looked at it. Senken looked at it very closely. It seemed to have a space to hold something, seemingly an octagonal disk of sorts. The inside of the space had a pattern on it, no doubt a distinct pattern used for that space only. The rest of the caravanners saw this as well, and knew they had to find a large disk of sorts to fit in there. Not for any particular reason, just for curiosity's sake. It appeared to be about as large as a Frisbee.

They looked about anywhere they could, in tall patches of grass, around the dead corpses of monsters, anywhere really. That's when the Selkie farm girl found the small object they must have been looking for. Picking it up, she dusted it off, wiping some blood off of it. She found it in a smelly goblin's corpse, as displeasing as that sounds. She smiled and called over to Kazuo then, who looked over.

"Catch!" She said with a smile as she threw the disk like a Frisbee.

He caught it with a grin and a laugh. He nodded and looked at Senken, who picked up the chalice again. They all moved together to the small pedestal and placed the disk in the slot. Naturally, the wheels and gears on the pulley system controlling the door began to move. The door pulled open, and the way was set. With newfound confidence, they moved through, walking over a rickety bridge to the other side of the river. Most seemed fairly quiet there, until they ran into some more monsters. They fought, of course, needing to get them out of the way. Senken easily disposed of them with magic that he'd picked up from other dead monsters before. He set them ablaze with fire, which worked rather well.

"Those monsters are tough!" Kaegomé said. "It's hard to stay out of their way."

"Yeah." Kazuo said, looking at the sleeve of his shirt. "They cut my arm."

"Oh? Are you alright?" Kaegomé asked as she walked over to Kazuo and took hold of his arm, looking at it.

"Yeah I'm fine!" Kazuo huffed, pulling his arm away from his Selkie ex-friend. "I'm not a wuss."

"You've never fought goblins before, how do you know whether or not you're fine?" Kaegomé scolded, suddenly cross as the Clavat. "You could be really hurt! Let me see! Now!"

"No way!" Kazuo said, crossing his arms. "It's just a scratch! I can take care of myself!"

"You can't even take care of a pet!" Kaegomé stated. "How can you POSSIBLY take care of yourself?"

"Enough bickering, please..." Snow groaned. "We have a job to do, and the year's not going to wait for us."

Senken nodded in agreement.

"Yeah, he's right." Kaegomé sighed. "Have it your way, Kazuo."

"Right." Kazuo said. "Come on."

"Well let's see." Snow said, looking at a sign. "Left, lots of monsters... Right, lots of monsters."

Senken looked at this sign too and shrugged.

They decided to go right first. Though it did lead to a dead end, littered with the occasional Goblin and Goblin Chieftain, there was a treasure chest, too. Opening it, they took out a small scroll. They immediately handed it to Senken, who unrolled it while having the chalice under his arm. He then looked at it questionably. After a moment, he pointed to Snow, and mimed himself forging something. He then handed the scroll to Snow. Snow took it and looked at it, his face lighting up.

"What's that?" Kaegomé asked.

"It's a design for an iron shield." Snow said. "I have no idea why it's out here... but we could get shields forged for us."

"Well, Snow and I are the only ones who use shields." Kazuo pointed out. "So I guess that's all ours! I can't wait to get a new shield."

"Well, you need the proper materials to make the shield."

"So... Iron?" Kaegomé asked aloud.

"Yes, and an Alloy." Snow said. "We'll find some eventually, come on."

They pressed on, having found another of those odd disks. They took it, and a bit further up the path, there was another wooden gate. Placing the stone in the pedestal, they opened the door and moved onward. A maybe two goblins and a couple of Hedgehog Pies met them. Making quick work of them, they continued onward. They came to an old wooden bridge, which seemed to be very battered. At this, they stopped, looking about the bank. There was a treasure chest along the bank on the other side.

"That bridge looks kind of rickety." Kaegomé said. "I don't like it."

"Me neither." Snow added.

Taking a first bold step, Senken walked onto the bridge. Taking hold of the rope tying the bridge from one side to another, he moved along. The others were forced to follow this example, as Senken had the chalice still tucked under one of his arms. They each moved slowly, watching their feet as they walked. Though about three quarters of the way across, Kaegomé's foot slipped, and it plunged into the water. She let out a slight shriek, as it caught her by surprise, though luckily, Kazuo was behind her. He quickly reached around her and held her up before she could fall and hurt herself, his arms tucked securely under hers.

"Hey are you okay?" The Clavat rancher asked as h pulled his ex-friend up.

"Yeah..." Kaegomé said with a slight smile. "Thanks Kazuo."

"No problem." Kazuo said with a nod as he let her go. "Wouldn't want you to bruise that pretty body of yours."

"Thanks." She simple said before crossing the river.

It was a surprise she didn't get mad at him. His comments on her body usually got him a scolding. Perhaps she'd finally loosened up? Regardless, they pressed on to the chest on the bank of the river. Opening it up, Kaegomé found a strange yellow orb. She blinked at it; it seemed to react in her hands. She then looked to Senken and shrugged. Senken just nodded to her and gestured her to raise it into the air in her hand. So she did, though nothing happened. Senken tapped the side of his head a few times, as if asking her to think.

"Think?" Kaegomé asked aloud.

"Concentrate." Snow said, apparently getting it right.

"On what?" Kaegomé asked.

Senken thought for a moment before looking down at his feet. He nodded then and squat down, his feet being in fresh sand, like mud. He kept the chalice under his arm as he ran his digit through the sand. As he took his hand away, what he traced was a message. It wrote: "Concentrate on one that you wish to bring back after death. It is a life orb, it can revive people." It made sense then, and Kaegomé nodded in understanding, smiling softly as she kept the orb with her. They then moved on, slaying more goblins until they passed a bride and saw a sign.

They looked to their left and down a path. They then looked to one another and smiled, nodding. They had all decided the myrrh tree was that way. They began walking towards it slowly, calmly. It was to be their first myrrh drop of the year. But then, Kaegomé stopped suddenly, stopping everyone else. Something seemed wrong. Every one was confused. Snow stepped forwards and blinked at her.

"What's wrong, Kaegomé?" He asked quietly.

"Monsters." Kaegomé said. "Monsters guard the myrrh trees, remember Kazuo?"

"Yeah that's right." Kazuo said. "But you're the leader of the caravan, you can't be afraid of it."

"Yes I can." Kaegomé said. "I can be scared of giant monsters."

"Well, okay. I'll give that one to you." Kazuo said. "But you can't let that get to you. We have a job to do."

"Kazuo's right." Snow said. "We can't show it that we're afraid, no matter what."

Senken walked over to Kaegomé then and raised a fist confidently. He wasn't afraid either.

"Even the Yuke isn't afraid." Kazuo said. "And he has the strength of a small girl."

Senken rubbed the back of his head, saying something in his ancient tongue.

"Kazuo, Senken will do just fine." Kaegomé said, sounding cross. "He'll help."

"Suuure." Kazuo said with an over-enthusiastic nod.

"Just you wait!" Kaegomé shouted, grabbing hold of Senken's arm as she began dragging him further along the path. "Come on Senken!"

Kazuo smirked as he looked over his shoulder and watched them go. Kaegomé seemed as anxious as ever to prove him wrong. Snow, who watched that whole scene quietly, stepped up to Kazuo. The two Clavats looked at one another for a moment. Snow was the first to shed a small smile. Kazuo looked at him curiously, raising an eyebrow.

"What?" Kazuo asked.

"You did that on purpose." Snow said.

"Yeah well, if I didn't do that, she probably wouldn't have gone." The rancher responded. "I knew she'd go if I gave her a reason to prove me wrong."

"Heh. You're brighter than you seem." Snow said.

"Hm? Really?" Kazuo asked.

"Only when it comes to Kaegomé." Snow said. "I think she needs you around more than she lets on."

With that, the quiet blacksmith moved on. Walking past Kazuo to leave him for a second. Kazuo just chuckled and shook his head. He doubted it. But then again, it was half true at the same time. He did know a lot about Kaegomé, what sort of a friend would he have been if he didn't? He couldn't really forget anything about her anyways; it was all just so easy. She wasn't predictable, no, though he knew her like the back of his hand. Funny thing to him was, as he walked along the path, he knew it wasn't the same way with her.


	6. Mutant Crab, Encounter 1

**Chapter 5: Mutant Crab, Encounter 1**

Walking forth, the farmer, alchemist, blacksmith and rancher headed towards their first myrrh tree. They passed under a stone arch, and were met by the sound of rushing water. Stepping into a sort of grove, they were astounded by what they saw. Mushrooms and wild flowers grew around the area, and the myrrh tree could be seen at the opposite end of the enclosed space. A rushing waterfall pouring into the river could be seen and heard, the water vapor making a beautiful rainbow against the sunlight. How a monster could have dwelled within such a beautiful place was completely beyond them. It didn't even appear that there was a monster! All there was... was the blissful sounds of nature.

Senken got excited by the sight of the myrrh tree and immediately set off for it. Kaegomé was baffled. She knew for certain, due to stories, that there were monsters at each tree. How come there wasn't one there? Snow was looking left and right, he was searching for this monster, though his weapons were at ease. It was nowhere to be found. Kazuo had this problem as well, though he was ready for a fight. The rancher felt that it was what he was born to do. He was born to become a caravanner, and slay the monsters at the myrrh trees. Though there wasn't any to be found. Upon thinking this, Kazuo and Kaegomé followed Senken towards the tree.

Though something caught Snow's eye. A small glitter of light from within the waterfall distracted the blacksmith. His natural eye for danger caused him to look over and peer into the falls. Peering into the falls, he could see a large shadow. It's form looked odd, unlike anything he'd ever seen before. Its presence had misfortune written all over it though. It was no doubt a living creature, as it moved from time to time. The glitter, centered in the creature, undoubtedly an eye, focused in on... on Senken. Perhaps, it wasn't focused on Senken, but the chalice instead. This alarmed Snow, and he ran towards the Yuke.

"Look out!" He called.

It was just that much too late. The monster leapt out from the waterfall. Its oversized form sailed low towards the ground, water from the falls flying everywhere. Kaegomé and Kazuo saw this and dropped to the ground. The giant monster sailed right over their heads towards Senken. In that split moment, it seemed to the Yuke, that he was foolish. He took fate for granted, always knowing that nothing ever came so easily. As the monstrous form of what seemed to be a giant shell crab flew at the Yuke, he felt fear and regret. Luckily, Snow was there. He ran to the Yuke and tackled him to the ground just in time for the monster to sail over his head and hit the side of a small mountain.

Just inside the protective barrier of the chalice, Kazuo and Kaegomé stood up, drawing their weapons. Senken and Snow shifted back as close to their comrades as they could, standing up and getting ready for battle as well. The giant crab whirled itself around, it's one giant claw seeming to guide most of it's weight. It's offsetting appearance, shining with moisture from the water. The crustacean was mutant, which was for sure, it being the size of maybe a small house. The caravanners took the small amount of time they had to question the creature, and used it all.

"Wh-What is THAT?" Kaegomé asked.

"I don't know." Kazuo said.

"Looks like a giant crab to me." Snow responded.

"IT'S UGLY!" Kaegomé nearly wailed at the top of her lungs.

The crab then leapt at them again, seemingly enraged by Kaegomé's comment. The group scattered, though tried to stay as close to one another as possible. Whatever the thing was, it was standing in the way, and subconsciously, the all knew it had to fall. Though they didn't know how to go about it. They'd never fought anything like this before. Not to mention that what they had fought in the near past didn't require much teamwork. It was certainly going to be difficult.

Senken was the first to try something. While the crab was distracted, charging at his friends, he put the chalice down and began to cast a thunder spell. The very moment the crab held still for a moment, Senken unleashed the fury of the spell. The spell zapped the crab, though to Senken's misfortune, it seemed like a mere shock. The crab wasn't phased. It just turned its sights towards the Yuke. In a quick movement, Senken picked up the chalice and ran. The crab had attempted to cast a lightning spell of its own, though it missed the Yuke by a long shot. Where Senken stood, the grass was burned to the dirt by the thunder shock.

As the Yuke ran back towards Kaegomé and Kazuo, the giant crustacean set its sights on the Clavat and the Selkie. Extending its giant claw out before it, it produced a thick stream of bubbles. The large orbs of soapy fluid moved towards the two. Taking it for granted, Kazuo remained where he was. Kaegomé on the other hand, ran to meet Senken halfway, avoiding the bubbles. The seemingly weak bubbles his Kazuo, and although it didn't hurt, the rancher was covered from head to toe in a slippery, heavy, gooey substance.

"Aw gross!" Kazuo shouted as he flicked his wrist, soapy fluid flying off him.

The crab then lunged at him. Kazuo backed up enough for the crab to land in front of him, though his movements were slow, like he was treading. The crab then swung its mammoth claw at the Clavat, and in a panic, Kazuo helplessly raised his shield. It was to no avail, though, as when he was struck, the force sent the shield back into the rancher's face, and the momentum sent him tumbling across the ground. He could only hold onto his sword tightly as he tumbled, and when he stopped, he was outside the protection of the chalice. He felt a burning on his skin that was like acid, though not nearly as hot, and it was very slowly eating away at his body, he could feel it.

"Kazuo!" Kaegomé exclaimed as she ran over to Kazuo and dragged him back into the protective barrier.

"I'm fine!" Kazuo scolded as he stood up then, trying to be rid of the soapy fluid on him.

With a sigh, Kaegomé went back to looking out for herself. The crab had gone and attempted to attack Senken. Luckily, the Yuke had somehow managed to avoid the creature for a long period of time. Snow was eagerly attacking it in the behind. The crab would let out a somewhat gnarled noise, and attempt to attack Snow, though the small blacksmith usually ducked under the claw, and skillfully moved away from its many legs. Kazuo had attempted to get back into the action, though the crab would move too quickly for him. His slow body was unable to keep up with everyone else's.

It seemed, though, that the caravanner's weapons did next to nothing against the crab's hard shell. A mere scratch would be left, though it had the same effect on the crab as it would on a tree if someone scraped its bark. The crab just kept going, and there didn't seem to be a victory in near sight. The caravanners gathered in a place, sticking together as they avoided the various attacks, bubbles, and magic spells the crab seemed to throw at them.

"We're not doing anything to this thing!" Kaegomé pointed out. "What are we going to do?"

"Every thing we throw at it just gets back at us." Kazuo said as he barely avoided another attack. "I'm getting sick of it!"

"Me too." Snow said quietly.

Snow then fell back. Turning around, he stared the crab down with his own bit of intensity. The crab lunged at him as his friends continued to run away from it. Snow fell flat to his back then, and as the crab sailed over him, he grabbed hold of one of its legs. One hand holding tightly to his sword, the other holding firmly onto the crab's leg and his shield, he was dragged along the ground. The others stopped and looked back, moving out of the way of the crab. They saw Snow, taking the first opportunity he got to scale the creature and climb onto its back, holding his sword tightly between his teeth. They were amazed for a moment, but they knew what they needed to do.

Not only did Senken quickly move to keep the chalice's barrier over Snow, Kazuo and Kaegomé ran to attack the monster, to make a distraction. Senken focused on staying as close to the party as he could, as Kaegomé and Kazuo worked on slashing and hitting the crab's legs. Snow furiously began to stab the creature, plunging his blade as far and deep into it as he could. Its shell caused a bit of a problem at first, but being firmly planted, he continued to stab at it. Within a while, the shell began to give way and crack, though only little by little. Snow continued to go at it, the look in his eyes being that of rage.

"Hold it still!" Snow scolded as he continued to blindly hack and slash at the breaking shell. His friends tried to do what they could, though the crab was overwhelming them. It swung its mighty claw and hit Kazuo hard upon the chest, sending him flying through the air and sliding across the ground. He was outside of the chalice's protection yet again, and the miasma burned against him. He moved to his feet, but the miasma proved too much for him, and he fell to the ground after a moment, motionless. Kaegomé blinked at this, and left the crab again to fetch Kazuo. She quickly grabbed him and picked him up, carrying him back into the protective area and avoiding the lunging crab, Senken desperately following behind it.

"Kazuo you idiot!" Kaegomé shouted. "You WERE NOT okay!"

Kazuo just groaned weakly. He wasn't dead, much to Kaegomé's relief. But he was useless as he was. The Selkie farmer continued to carry him, very limited in her movements. Senken helplessly followed the crab, which Snow was still furiously stabbing. It was like a circle, one following the other. Though after a moment, the crab turned around, setting its sights on Senken. Senken stopped dead in his tracks, as did Kaegomé, and the Yuke stared at it in fear. Though luckily, at that moment, Snow broke through.

With a final plunge of his sword, the shell of the crab cracked, and then shattered like glass. The Clavat lost his footing, and fell onto the crab's bare back. His sword fell from his hand and onto the ground, though he was somewhat pleased. It had a weaker skin beneath it, and he immediately began attacking it without a weapon. Slamming his fist into its bare back, it screeched in pain. Snow grinned at this and began to laugh, almost seeming psychotic as he beat on the crab.

"Time to die!" Snow shouted as he grinned.

Though unexpectedly, the crab began to cast a spell. It was a lightning spell, Thundara was its name, and Senken knew it well. The spell was cast right over Kaegomé and the unconscious Kazuo, pure electricity flowing around then under a great radius. The two cried out in pain as they were zapped, and when the spell cleared, Kaegomé fell to the ground on top of Kazuo. The two couldn't move, no matter how much they tried. They were paralyzed, and couldn't move a muscle. Seeing this, the Yuke charged his own spell. He struck the crab with a quick jolt of lightning; causing it to spasm a bit, then, Snow quickly leapt down, took his sword, leapt up again, and stabbed it deep into the monster's back. Not once, not twice – but four times.

The monster let out and ear piercing howl and fell. Struggling to right itself again it shook furiously. Though in the end of the attempt, it fell to the ground, dead. It lay there, leg twitching as everyone hah held still. Snow seemed to calm down, hopping off the monster's back and taking a deep breath. Senken made a gesture, as if wiping sweat from his brow, relieved. Kaegomé opened her eyes and looked to her friends. Shaking her head, she woozily got to her feet and looked down at Kazuo. He way lying there, and though he was injured, he looked very peaceful, almost as if he were sleeping. Senken and Snow walked over to them, and picked Kazuo up. They gave the beat rancher some fresh spring water that Senken had bought from Xeuber before they left, and he slowly opened his eyes.

"Oh man..." He groaned. "It's dead already? I didn't get to do anything!"

"That's all you have to say?" Kaegomé asked, seeming angry again. "You fall in battle, out in the miasma, worry us to death, and THAT is all you were worried about? Killing some stupid mutant crab! You stupid Clavat!"

"Glad to see you too..." Kazuo mumbled as he brushed himself off.

The group then looked to the myrrh tree. Walking over to it, the old tree seemed to glow with life-giving radiance. Glowing balls of light seemed to swarm it, and its bark had a blue-ish hue to it. The tree's seemingly crystal branches were arched, remaining very still despite the breeze in the small clearing. All they heard was the sound of the waterfall rushing behind them as they stepped over to the myrrh tree. The sight amazed each one of them. They had never seen anything like it before. Even the old caravanners had not described it as it was. But it had a purpose, and the Yuke amongst them knew what he had to do.

He stepped towards the tree, a small stump being right in front of it. He reached out and ran his feathered hand over the annual rings of the stump. The surface was somewhat worn, meaning things had touched it before. The chalices before them had no doubt rested there for a moment or two. Senken took then chalice in both hands, and gently placed it upon the stump. Looking up, it seemed that each branch was made entirely of crystal, and each tip was towards him. On the center two, right above the chalice, there was a liquid gathered there. It was undoubtedly the myrrh, the live-giving perspiration the caravanners had set out for.

It seemed the tree knew just when to act. Only a few moments after the chalice was placed, the myrrh began to drop. Slowly, it moved, gravity taking its toll as a single drop formed between the tips of the branches. In a split second, it fell, going right down into the chalice. It was the first drop, though oddly, the chalice was filled a third of the way, even though the drop was but a small bead of water. The chalice was maybe as big as a basketball, the ratio made no sense to some of them. Though as soon as it had been done, they all felt relieved – they were doing their job right.

* * *

_Year 1_

_I never would have thought that a myrrh tree would look so amazing. Its seemed to shed this blue glow that no one would quite understand, and its branches were made out of what looked like pure crystal! I think the others thought things that were very similar to my thoughts. To think, I was the first to have the privilege to gather a myrrh drop. It makes me feel as if I have done something important for the lives of many people._

_-Senken_

_

* * *

_

Year 1

_Wow man, myrrh trees look so awesome! There were like, lights glowing all around it, and they seemed to dance around the tree. It was even better than the old caravanners had described! But when we fought a giant crab at the end of the Belle River Pass, I didn't do much. I was caught by something that slowed me down, and then while Snow was hitting it, it knocked me out. I think I almost died... but that's ALMOST! Nobody can kill me; I'm not that kind of guy._

_-Kazuo_

_

* * *

_

Year 1

_I surprised even myself. At the end of the Belle River Pass, we faced a monster. I was the only one to see it though. My eyes are trained to see such things. But I felt very angry during the fight, for seemingly no reason at all. I haven't really felt that way before, maybe once, but that was a while ago. What's wrong with me?_

_-Snow_

_

* * *

_

Year 1

_The Belle River Pass looked so beautiful. I couldn't believe that such a place could have had monsters in it! We were attacked by goblins! I wonder where they came from? They're ugly, and smelly, but they're interesting I think. We also fought a GIANT, UGLY, MUTANT CRAB. It was so huge! I wonder where that came from? Oh well, that is just one of those questions people were never meant to answer, I guess._

_- Kaegomé

* * *

_

After they had gathered the drop of myrrh, they left back the way they came. Taking the chalice, they left the clearing, out through the pass, and back out to their caravan. They decided then to rest. The day had trekked on until sunset, and after the fight, the four were weary. They climbed into the caravan, feeding their oxen, and set the chalice down. They all sat around it, sighing softly as they gazed at it. Needless to say, each of them felt accomplished.

"There are so many things to wonder." Kaegomé said.

"Like what?" Kazuo asked, seemingly in disbelief.

"Well, like where did that crab come from?" Kaegomé asked.

Senken thought about this.

"I have no idea." Snow said. "Probably some sort of mutation thanks to the miasma."

"Probably." Kazuo and Kaegomé agreed.

"And the myrrh drops." Kazuo stated. "It filled up a lot of our chalice."

"Yes, that was odd." Snow said. "It makes no sense."

"I know." Kaegomé agreed. "It's giving me a headache."

"Don't whine about it." Kazuo said. "If it's so hard to figure out, then let's leave it a mystery. There's no sense in trying to figure it out now."

"That's true." Snow said.

"Yeah." Kaegomé agreed. "I suppose it isn't worth losing sleep over."

"Speaking of which," Kazuo proclaimed. "I'm very tired."

"I think we all are." Snow said.

Senken nodded in agreement.

"Yep, maybe we should go to bed." Kaegomé suggested. "After all, a year is twelve months. We have a lot of time."

"Not really." Kazuo said. "If all the other villages beat us to the trees, we could miss out."

"Then we'd be in a pickle." Snow said.

"What should we do then?" Kaegomé asked.

"You're the leader." Kazuo bluntly responded.

"Oh yeah that's right." Kaegomé said in realization. "Alright, we'll leave for the nearest tree tomorrow."


	7. The Mushroom Forest

**Chapter 6: The Mushroom Forest**

The caravanners of Xeuber continued onward the day preceding their encounter with the mutant crab at the Belle River Pass. They felt excited, and as if they'd neared their goal. But the path to the next Myrrh tree wasn't without its own interesting encounters. The four travelers came across another caravan that hailed from the city of Alfitaria, and they were stopped for a chat. The caravan was abuzz with all sorts of chatter concerning a certain Black Knight who apparently was attacking travelers. Nobody knew who he was or why he attacked other people, but his skills were quite formidable, as some said. The caravan leader, Sol, a Lility, spoke of this Black Knight with such enthusiasm, that it seemed he admired the man. Though, Kazuo suspected that deep down, he wanted to fight this mystery man. And really, the young rancher wanted to have a go at him too. He made it a personal goal before his journey was through. Bidding the fellow caravanners a good day, they left.

* * *

_Year 1_

_Man, this Black Knight guy sounds very awesome. I mean, I don't approve of him going around and picking on travelers and other caravans, but that gives me all the more reason to kick his butt! I swear, when I see this guy, I'm gonna attack, and ask questions afterwards. There'd be stories told about ME if I did that. That would be so cool…_

_- Kazuo

* * *

_

Taking note of what they heard, they continued onwards towards the miasma stream. This place, unlike the sunny, grassy fields they were used to, seemed desolate. It was a bundle of trees, a thick forest, but there was a path through right to the other side. Unfortunately though, within that dark, gloomy, gray path, a miasma stream went rushing right through. It was the only thing blocking entry to the other side. And unlike normal miasma, it required a chalice blessed with a specific element. The caravanners stopped in front of the dead forest, gazing out at it. There was a cold, eerie breeze coming from its maw, which would occasionally blast out in stinging gusts at the caravanners. It puzzled them, but they had two experts on the matter, and they turned to them – Kazuo and Snow. They were both very informative.

"As I said before," Kazuo stated. "We can only pass through that thing if we've got the proper element in our chalice."

"But what element is it?" Kaegomé asked.

"You passed through before Snow." Kazuo said. "What is it?"

"Water." Snow responded. "You can tell if you look hard enough. There seems to be a faint blue fog rolling about within it, can you tell? It's lingering around the trees."

"I think I see it…" Kazuo said.

"Sure." Kaegomé said flatly. "But alright, we have water, don't we?"

Senken held up the chalice from the rider's seat of the caravan. It glowed an awkward shade of light blue. He then nodded, obviously showing he had it. But he couldn't keep that up for too long, as he had to make sure the oxen didn't get out of hand. They were restless from the odd feeling that generated from the miasma stream. With a bit of confidence, they got into the caravan then, hoping that it would be able to hold off the strong winds that came through the dead forest. All but the Yuke sat in safety in the back, tying anything they could down so that nothing would be bumped or rattled around. Then, after some hesitation, Senken snapped the reins, and signaled for the oxen to proceed. They hesitated a moment too, but the faithful beasts went onwards into the gloomy surroundings.

At first, it wasn't bad. Only a cold chill flowed through the caravan. Snow held tightly to the chalice, knowing that the worst was yet to come, and grabbed onto one of the wooden supports for good measure. The others, though, were completely oblivious to the dangers the miasma stream held. Senken watched over as the oxen pulled them through the miasma stream with only a bit of fear. As far as he was concerned, everything was going to be fine. But upon that thought, he was hit with a blast of cold air that nearly toppled over his thin form, and spun his helmet around backwards. The oxen reacted by stopping, and flailing a bit in distress. The others in the back were in a fairly bad way when Senken snapped the reins hard and made the oxen take off at a running dash. The wind and shaking from the speed jarred and bounced things around the back of the caravan. Snow had secured himself, so he had no worry, and showed no alarm. Kazuo had grabbed on to a support as well, holding himself up, reaching out with one hand to grab Kaegomé's hand when she fell.

"Thanks!" She shouted so the rancher could hear her.

"Shut up and grab hold of something!" He shouted back.

She had nothing to hold onto, so pulling herself forwards, she held tightly to Kazuo. He gave her a funny look, but she squeezed his ribs hard, putting him in line. He grabbed hold of the support again, letting her do as she pleased as he held tightly and waited out the worst of it. Senken was having the worst time, trying to decide on holding the reins or grabbing hold of the seat. Though, as Snow expected, the worst was to pass. The chalice let off a bright glow in his hands, and a loud chiming sound came, as if a queue. A crystal-like magical barrier surrounded the caravan, and the total effects of the miasma halted. The cold draft came through, but the rough winds had ended. The oxen had calmed, and stopped to look about, as did Senken. Kazuo and Kaegomé had let go of their support, Kazuo brushing himself off, and then went to peek out over Senken's shoulder. The rest of the ride was smooth sailing, the oxen continuing comfortably until they were out into the sunshine again.

At that time, they all filed out, and decided to check inventory. They all seemed okay, just somewhat rattled. They checked over the state of the caravan, giving the oxen some feed to cope with the experience. The wood showed some slight signs of strain, Senken could see, but nothing too critical. Snow had decided that it would have been a good idea to fortify the wood with some metal bracers. It seemed like a good idea, and they agreed that when they reached Marr's Pass, Snow would ask his father to help. After that decision, they checked their items. Everything seemed to be in order, down to the last striped apple. So, with that, they continued down the sunny, grassy fields once again towards a crossroad. Checking the map, it appeared to them that Marr's Pass was north, and the Mushroom Forest was west. Knowing that there should be a myrrh tree there, they headed in that direction.

It was obvious why the place was named the Mushroom Forest. It was mostly made of mushrooms, some of the fungi being taller than any sort of tree any of them had ever seen. The sunlight came off the orange-ish mushroom tops, and casting a sort of orange glow upon the surrounding "forest" and the ground. Spores seemed to float in the air, dancing like fireflies on a summer's night. Leaving the caravan safely at the entrance, they stepped into the wonderland, and immediately felt small. Each mushroom towered over them as if they were some sorts of insect. They were in awe of the place, but paid little heed to it, getting their weapons and such ready.

* * *

_Year 1_

_Fascinating. I never expected mushrooms to be so large. Never in my lifetime had I heard of the Mushroom Forest. It seemed like a great place to study fungi and bacteria! But having said that, it was also germ infested. I feared for my health, entering that place._

_- Senken

* * *

_

The Mushroom Forest, much like the Belle River Pass, was filled with dangers spawned from the miasma. While there were some similar monsters, there were of course new ones. Mutant plants and large, grubby worms stood in their path. Luckily, they all had some basic field experience, enough for them to know how to take care of themselves. Senken held the chalice of course, while Snow, Kazuo and Kaegomé took care of the dangers. Though they were all hesitant to touch the mushrooms. They thought that perhaps they'd get sick, lingering in such a place, so they hurried as best they could. They bound off mushrooms, they helped one another, and somewhere in there a small bond of trust was developed between the four of them. It took well into the night, but they gathered the myrrh drop, and cast off the giant plant known as Malboro, who was set to guard the tree. They left the macro-sized forest to their caravan once again, to rest and stash their supplies.

"Where the heck do those things come from?" Kazuo asked while putting away food stores into a crate.

Senken shrugged.

"I didn't ask you." Kazuo said, though he seemed calmer than usual.

"What do you mean, Kazuo?" Snow asked.

"The monsters guarding the trees." Kazuo responded, he turned and sat at the back end of the caravan, facing his two companions. "Really, nobody really knows how they got there. It makes me wonder. I mean they're fun to kill, but that's only because they're in the way. How did they even get there in the first place?"

"Thinking critically for a change?" Kaegomé chimed in from behind him, over his shoulder.

"Shut up, I'm being serious." Kazuo shot at her.

"Another surprise!" The Selkie farmer edged the Clavat rancher on.

"Argh, get lost." Kazuo threw a backhand at her, but she moved out of its path. Angered, he got up, moved to the front of the caravan, and sat in the rider's seat alone.

"Why do you bother him so?" Snow asked after a moment.

"You can't say he doesn't deserve it." Kaegomé responded. "He's a big jerk, he's only getting what he asks for."

"Still Kaegomé…" Snow continued.

"Look at the way he bullies Senken." She responded. "And the way he's always talking about himself. He's a selfish, obnoxious, uncaring jerk. All he wants out of this is to get stronger so he'd have more to brag about."

"But Kaegomé," Snow began. "Going to his level of action to bother him just doesn't seem right. I feel that he cares for us somehow. Nobody in the world can be so heartless as to not care for at least one person. Kazuo holds someone dear to him, just like everyone else."

"Well maybe if he told us who…" Kaegomé began.

"He will not." Snow said. "He may be embarrassed about it, or afraid to voice his feelings. Doesn't he seem that way?"

"But…" Kaegomé was backed into a corner there. Snow was right, and she knew it. Kazuo, who had been her friend early in her life, was definitely not the kind of person who would tell anyone how he feels. He normally covered it up, and hid it away. He'd mask his emotions with jokes and obnoxious behavior, getting a laugh out of it. The Selkie farmer thought back just then, and realized that maybe her friend wasn't trying to hide his feelings from others, but maybe hide them from himself as well. Kazuo was block-headed enough never to admit his weaknesses.

Their conversation about their friend ended there. They continued well into the night organizing their caravan for the next trip, which they had plotted out on their map. Kazuo didn't even come in to sleep, and it bothered Kaegomé, but only slightly. She knew that maybe, she'd hurt his feelings, maybe just a bit. She thought that she honestly under appreciated him. But then again, this was spawned from his selfish behavior. As nice as he could be, the fact still remained that he was a real inconsiderate person. The thoughts kept her awake, and occasionally she'd gaze out to see Kazuo still sitting outside by himself. She couldn't handle the guilt any longer than that, so she got up, made sure she was properly dressed, and then went out to see him. When she got out, she was surprised to hear him laughing.

"Kazuo?" She spoke up, sitting down beside him, wrapping a blanket about her.

"Oh?" he looked to her.

"What are you laughing about?" She asked.

"Oh just a thought." He responded. "Remember when we were kids? That one time we decided to go outside after it rained for weeks?"

"I faintly remember it, yes." She answered.

"Ha, it was sure surprising for you." He said with a smile. "I came to your house, I knew how deep the mud was. It was so funny when you walked out of your house and fell into the mud!"

"… Yeah, it was." She giggled whilst Kazuo laughed. "I was covered head to toe."

"You were sooo mad." Kazuo grinned. "You blamed it all on me."

"It seems kind of silly now." She said.

"Of course." He laughed. "But that's when we were kids. A lot of stuff has changed since then."

"Yeah…" The farmer answered. "… Kazuo?"

"Hm? What?" Kazuo responded curiously.

"Sorry if I seem mean to you." She said quietly, almost embarrassed to be apologizing to him.

"Mean?" Kazuo chuckled. "Kaegomé, you goof."

"What…?" Kaegomé was confused.

"I've been beat up, criticized, tortured, ridiculed, and yelled at by you." Kazuo said. "That little touch of sarcasm was nothing."

"That still doesn't make it alright." Kaegomé said.

"Hm, yeah." Kazuo answered, not looking at her anymore. His attentions were at the sky. "But… you didn't hurt my feelings any. I'm not some sort of wuss."

Kaegomé remembered what Snow had said only hours before. Kazuo wouldn't tell anyone the truth about his feelings. He didn't want to seem weak or sentimental, that was all. She smiled at him, shaking her head. Kazuo was smiling as he looked to the sky, but his smile faded as he looked over at the Selkie and blinked. He had no clue as to why she was so quiet all of a sudden. But she certainly surprised him when she leaned in and gave him a comforting hug. He responded by trying to push her off.

"What are you doing?" Kazuo shot at her.

"You stupid Clavat." Kaegomé sighed, standing up. "You act all tough, but you have feelings just like everyone else. And besides, you like getting hugs, don't you?"

"Huh…?" Kazuo blinked up at her in confusion.

"You always used to ask for hugs when you were little." She giggled. "You only asked me once though, when you were all sad over your pet dying."

"Hey, hey, that pet was a real good friend of mine." Kazuo stated defensively.

"What about when you scraped your elbow on the rocks that one day?" Kaegomé grinned. "You went and got your Mother to hug you and calm you down."

"Are you making fun of me!" Kazuo shot at her.

"No." She said, reassuring him. "I'm just saying you're nothing but a cuddly bear. All tough and strong on the outside, but real nice on the inside."

"…" Kazuo couldn't say anything back.

"I'm going to bed now." Kaegomé smiled.

"Alright…" Kazuo responded. "Goodnight."

"Goodnight Kazuo." Kaegomé said back.

She went back into the caravan then, being extra careful not to wake up Senken or Snow. She crept to her bedding and lay down again, closing her eyes and pretending to sleep. After several minutes, she heard Kazuo enter the caravan and get into his sleeping bag. The Selkie farmer had curled up on her own sleeping bag, not bothering to get inside of it, the blanket over her form, but not completely. She smiled to herself, happy that she was able to get Kazuo to go to sleep. Though when she heard him get up and step towards her quietly, she felt a bit defensive. She was tense, knowing he was lurking over her for a moment. But to her surprise, she felt him tug the blanket from her, and drape it over her, warming her up. She then heard him move away from her, and retreat to his bed, and head off to sleep with a sigh.

* * *

_Year 1_

_Kazuo is so stupid sometimes. Why can't he just tell us how he feels half the time, instead of being a jerk? I had a talk with him late tonight before I went to sleep. He was laughing about something from our childhood. It's amazing how he can remember those things. Other than monsters and fighting, he seems to talk about him and me when we were kids a lot… He tucked me in while I was pretending to sleep. Maybe he's nicer than he lets on._

_- Kaegomé_


	8. Year 1 Complete

**Year 1 Complete**

"Alright Senken, a-ple." Kaegomé said, sounding out words for the tall Yuke sitting before her.

It was the dead of night in Xeuber. The party had successfully returned from their trip to gather the myrrh drops. The night buzzed with activity though. There was a gathering around the newly regenerated crystal in the center of the village, and the villagers were dancing, and the musicians were playing. Fire cracked and sparked from torches that had been set up around the crystal for site, and bright, beautiful stars filled the sky. The trees were silent, and the rest of the village seemed dead. All the life had been focused into the center of Xeuber, and if not for that, it would have seemed like a ghost town. Everyone was having fun, all except for Kaegomé and Senken, who were off alone in the silent night.

"What the heck are you two doing?" Kazuo said as he walked over to them. "Don't you guys know how to have any fun?"

"I'm trying to teach Senken English!" Kaegomé snapped at him.

"Whoa now lovely, calm your pretty little head." Kazuo laughed. "All I'm saying is: shouldn't you two unwind at all? We've been through a lot."

"Yeah we have." Kaegomé said.

"I mean, after we got out of the mushroom forest, we went to the Mine of Cathurgies." Kazuo sat with them then, thinking back. "Man, was it dark in there, and the monsters were pretty tough!"

"Yeah, I didn't know whether or not we'd make it." Kaegomé said. "But it didn't help with you telling me it was haunted!"

"I couldn't help it!" Kazuo laughed. "You're so cute when you're scared."

"I was NOT scared!" Kaegomé argued.

"Well regardless, the monsters were tough…" Snow said, emerging from the party to join them off to the side. His cap was off for a change, showing that maybe, he was more relaxed than usual. "I say we train, so that next year we won't be caught off guard."

"Good idea." Kazuo said.

"What?" Kaegomé began to complain. "I can't train for the rest of the year! It's time to relax and take a break from all this adventuring and fighting!"

"Heh." Kazuo turned to her, smirking at her. "Well, fine, you laze about and get all flabby and out of shape. Snow and I will just get stronger, and your appeal for me will grow, for you'll envy me."

"Now you just _shut up_." Kaegomé said coldly.

"What's this?" Kazuo blinked at her, looking towards her stomach.

"Wh-What?" She blinked in confusion. "Is there a bug on me? Get it off!"

"No…" He grinned, reaching forwards and pinching at the skin on her trim stomach. "You're getting fat already!"

"Grr… you!" Kaegomé glared at him.

She got up quickly, with an anger that scared Kazuo a bit. He didn't have to think very much to know that it was about time he got away from her. He scrambled away quickly and fled from her, the Selkie farmer in hot pursuit. The others who were enjoying the party stopped dancing for a moment when Kazuo ran by, shielding his head from the hits from Kaegomé's dual shooter. It was a minor distraction though, and they went right back to dancing and playing their music, ignoring the two of them. It seemed that their fighting was common. The rancher ran all the way around town, and back to his friends, where the Yuke and the other Clavat stopped Kaegomé and held her back. She of course fought against them.

"Settle down." Snow said calmly.

"Hey, hey, I'm sorry!" Kazuo pleaded. "Just don't hit me again!"

"Ugh, let's just go have some fun." Kaegomé scoffed. "He's right about that much."

"Yeah, I wanna watch that tambourine chick over there." Kazuo pointed over to a young Selkie girl who was performing with the rest of the music-players.

"Ugh!" Kaegomé smacked Kazuo in the back of the head, knocking him over.

The rest of the night was spent enjoying the freedoms the crystal brought, but it was to be a long remainder of the year for the caravanners. Kaegomé and Kazuo were left to help out in their family's businesses. Both gladly accepted the responsibility, though the rancher only did so to further convince his parents that he was a good kid. Senken went back home; showing all sorts of different things to his parents, and went back to reading and working at leisure. Snow though, took the chalice and left the village, going back to Marr's Pass to work with his father, and further hone his skills as a blacksmith. Of course, they didn't seclude themselves from one another. Kaegomé and Senken spent a lot of time together, trying to help the Yuke master the English language. Though they went with little success. Snow came back to Xeuber occasionally, visiting all three of his friends. Him and Kazuo spent most of their time training, striving to be the greatest fighters their side of the world had ever seen. Usually the two pairs never came into a conflict of great proportions, until one day…

Kazuo and Snow were training out by the waterfront, at the same spot the rancher and the Selkie farmer used to spend time. They had been working very hard, and sat down against a tree to take a rest. That was when Kaegomé and Senken approached, Kaegomé looking rather pleased. This made the two Clavats curious as to what was up, and they watched as they approached. When they reached the two, Kaegomé spun in a quick circle out of happiness, a bright smile lighting her features.

"Sexy and happy." Kazuo chuckled. "What's up?"

"I'm happy enough to ignore that." Kaegomé responded. "I taught Senken a word!"

Senken rubbed his arm nervously.

"Really?" Snow asked. "Which one?"

"Okay Senken." Kaegomé turned to the Yuke. "Go ahead and say it."

Senken hesitated a bit. He didn't really want to say the word for show. Kaegomé was showing him off and it made him uncomfortable. Plus, he knew the moment the word was spoken, he'd face verbal assault from Kazuo, and that was the last thing he wanted. Kaegomé edged him on though, trying to encourage him to do it. Senken saw it more as peer pressure than encouragement. But, at one instant, he gave in and went to speak. Though, he still had trouble, and tried to sound out the word as best he could. The Clavats watched him curiously.

"A… Ap…" Senken slowly spoke.

"Get on with it." Kazuo bluntly spoke.

"Ap… le." Senken still tried, faulting on consonants and letters.

"Apple." He finally got it after several seconds. Snow and Kaegomé applauded.

"That was very good Senken!" Snow said, trying to make him feel as if he did something good.

"It's so great isn't it?" Kaegomé asked. "It only took a few weeks!"

"It took a few weeks to teach him that?" Kazuo looked at the two of them like they were idiots. "You've got to be kidding me, that isn't even a hard word! Try saying something like… Our names. I bet it'd take that idiot forever to say our names!"

"Kazuo, shut up!" Kaegomé shouted at him. "Can't you be happy for him for at least two seconds!"

"It's like teaching a newborn, Kazuo. And it's not like he can't understand what we're saying." Snow said, looking to his friend. "As long as Kaegomé can help him grasp a few concepts of speech… He'll be able to piece together much more. Right now he can pronounce his P's, A's and L's. They don't go together very well, but he'll be talking in no time."

"Who says I want to put up with newborns?" Kazuo huffed.

"Well then good luck having kids!" Kaegomé shouted, leaning in real close to him to try and intimidate him.

"Who says I want kids?" Kazuo asked again.

Kaegomé bit her lip for a moment, glaring at the rancher. She slowly clenched her hands into fists, and in one quick movement, unclamped one to slap him hard across the face. The sound of her hand cracking against his face was loud, able to be heard echoing across the waterfront, distorting the gentle sound of the breeze blowing past. She then turned away and stormed off. Senken was a little confused, but soon ran to catch up with her. The force from the slap made Kazuo's head jerk to the side, but when she left; he rested his hand over his cheek, rubbing it, as he looked out at her, somewhat confused. Snow was equally confused.

"What's eating her?" Kazuo asked.

"I have no idea…" Snow shook his head.

And so the weeks went on from there. Snow was unable to visit as often as he could before, as business in Marr's Pass picked up for his father. Kaegomé and Senken continued to spend time together, Kaegomé teaching Senken whatever she could. Again at that time, Kazuo was alone. Kaegomé refused to speak to him, and Snow wasn't around to hang out with, and Kaegomé told Senken not to hand around Kazuo for the rest of the year. Kazuo was left to work and train all by himself. He never wanted to talk to Pauline, his sister, because frankly, girls were confusing creatures. He would occasionally set her off too, which was difficult, because she lived with him from the moment she was born, being younger. She was used to how he acted, but he pushed even her.

Soon, everything started to bug him. He had just gotten out of being a loner, and he was quickly plummeting into the groove again. He wanted friends, even if he didn't say so; he wanted someone, anyone to talk to. The fact that his friends – his fellow caravanners – weren't around, and half of them didn't like him made him face the fact that something was wrong with him. In circumstances like that, it was hard to ignore. But due to his nature, he couldn't tell what. He didn't want to ask anyone, not wanting help, or to hear something he didn't want to. What he tried to do first was fix his problem with Kaegomé. It would have been the first time he even tried, so it wasn't going to be easy. He never really knew how to persuade someone to forgive him.

Kazuo tried talking to her first. Every now and again when she'd pass by the ranch while he was working, he'd say hello to her. That went horribly wrong though. The first few times, she ignored him entirely. The few times after that, she told him flat out that she wasn't going to talk to him. The final time, she ignored him again, but suddenly stopped coming by the ranch. Obviously, idle chitchat didn't work one bit. So, next, he tried helping out on her family farm when round corn was in season. He'd spend hours of his free time doing even more work, first picking the corn. She ignored him. Then he had to clean and sort the corn. She even ignored him through that. He would constantly attempt conversation, but she would always not speak back. She was like a stone, quiet and reserved. Nothing seemed to work.

It continued to agitate him, and one day, it especially got on his nerves. He walked out of his home, immediately setting off towards Kaegomé's house, but someone calling his name stopped him.

"…Kazuo!" They called.

He turned to see Senken approach. This confused him again.

"Kazuo…" Senken repeated. "Ka… Kagomei…"

"Hm?" Kazuo crossed his arms. "I don't have all day to hear your blabbering. What's up?"

"Kagomei… is… sad." Senken managed to speak out.

"Sad?" The rancher was confused.

Senken pointed over to the waterfront. The young ranger could make out the form of his once again ex-friend slumped at the shore beside the tree. For once, Kazuo was actually happy that Senken got within two feet of him. Kazuo walked over to the waterfront then, where Kaegomé was sulking. He stayed quiet, watching her for a moment. Senken came to join him, watching. To Kazuo, it seemed that the Yuke wanted them to make amends… But at that point, it seemed hard. Plus, Senken's reasons for doing so were questionable.

"Hey." Kazuo spoke up.

"What do you want?" Kaegomé asked, looking back at him.

"You're sulking." Kazuo said. "Why?"

"Why do you care?" The farmer asked, looking away from him. "You used to be my best friend… what happened to you?"

"Something happened to me?" Kazuo was confused all over again.

"Kazuo…" She stood up then, looking at him. "You and Senken used to be a lot alike. You used to be able to understand how I felt, and to talk with me, share secrets with me, play with me. We used to spend all sorts of time together. But one day your head inflated! You became some big fat jerk!"

"You take that back!" Kazuo shouted, getting angry at her words.

Senken got between the two then, gesturing for them to calm down. They both crossed their arms and looked away. Senken reached into his picket, taking out a piece of paper, having a piece of material that would leave faint marks on it in his pocket as well. He began to write on the paper. The two feuding friends watched him curiously as he scribbled about. He then walked over to Kaegomé first, showing her the paper and getting her to read it out loud.

"Don't be angry…" She read. "Kazuo only gets mad because he thinks you're wrong."

Senken then got Kazuo to read something else.

"Kaegomé thinks… that you don't care?" He read aloud. "Why?"

"It's just…" She turned away from the two young men then. "I don't know."

"Well if you don't know, then why get mad?" Kazuo asked.

"…I don't know." She responded.

"Kaegomé… I usually figure you'd have to know by now that I do care." Kazuo said. "What do you think I am?"

Kaegomé glanced at him.

"Don't answer that." Kazuo chuckled nervously. "Look, I don't have an ego, and I wouldn't go out of my way to get any of you hurt."

"Any of us?" Kaegomé smiled.

"Uh, yeah." Kazuo responded.

"Even…?" She pointed at Senken.

"Erm, well…" Kazuo crossed his arms. "What kinda guy would I be if I let the weak die off?"

Even though that statement was clearly used to make the rancher look good, Kaegomé smiled a bit brighter. Senken was insulted of course, but seeing Kaegomé's reaction boggled him. Normally she would have been angry. What was with her? Kazuo looked up at her too, just in time to see the side of her head as she hugged him. She nearly pulled him off balance with the hug. He wrapped his arms around her slightly and returned the hug before she let go and pulled away. He nearly fell forwards then, making her back up even more so he wouldn't fall into her. She then walked away happily, saying she was going home, and telling Kazuo to quit acting. Kazuo and Senken watched her as she walked away. The rancher then looked to the alchemist.

"You've been hanging around Snow too much." He said.

* * *

_Year 1 – End_

_We've been through a lot, and met a lot of strange people. We met the farmers from Fum, Gurdy (He's quite annoying to me), and the Selkies from Leuda. Heh… that one guy's sister… is so beautiful. Anyways, the fact is, we've done a lot. The celebration was great, but Kaegomé and Senken were doing boring stuff, and then Kaegomé got mad at me! She stayed mad at me for a long time, until the break the three-quarters of the way over! Gah, she can be so annoying!_

_I was surprised though when Senken said my name. I didn't think he'd ever be able to learn it._

_- Kazuo

* * *

_

_Year 1 – End_

_That Kazuo... what a silly guy. He acts like he doesn't care, and says all these mean things, but when it comes down to it, he seems pretty nice. I still wonder what happened. Why does he act like this all of a sudden? And I still don't quite know why I got angry. It's not like I care if he has kids or not._

_-Kaegomé

* * *

_

_Year 1 – End_

_I'm finally learning how to speak. I can speak a few words, such as "apple," "Kaegomé," "Kazuo," "Snow," "Senken," and all kinds of things with those sounds. I'm very grateful to have friends like Kaegomé and Snow… Even Kazuo in a way._

_- Senken_


End file.
